CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge-- Part 5: The End of the Alabama

The Alabama settled stern first and her bow raised high in the air as the waters of the English Channel closed over her.  Boats from the Kearsarge and French boats rescued the survivors.

The English yacht Deerhound, owned by Mr. John Lancaster, picked up Captain Semmes with 13 of his officers and 27 crew members and carried them to Southhampton.

The spectacular career of the Confederacy's most famous raider was closed.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge, June 19, 1864-- Part 4

Had that shell from the Alabama that lodged in the Kearsarge's sternpost exploded it would gave been very bad for the Union ship.  Confederate John M. McKenzie, who was just 16 years old at the time of the battle, observed:  "If it had exploded the Kearsarge  would have gone to the bottom instead of the Alabama.  But our ammunition was old and had lost its strength."

Southern casualties were heavy as both sides fought valiantly.

"After the lapse of about one hour and ten minutes,"  Semmes reported, "our ship was ascertained to be in a sinking condition, the enemy's shells having exploded in our side, and between decks, opening large apertures through which the water rushed with great rapidity.

"For some few minutes I had hopes of being able to reach the French coast, for which purpose I gave the ship all steam, and set such of the fore and aft sails as were available.  The ship filled so rapidly, however, that before we had made much progress, the fires were extinguished in the furnaces, and we were evidently at the point of sinking.

"I now hauled down my colors to prevent the further destruction of life, and dispatched a boat to inform the enemy of our condition."

--Old B-Runner

June 26, 1864: USS Norfolk Packet Captures a Prize

JUNE 26TH, 1864:  The USS Norfolk Packet, Acting Ensign George W. Wood, captured sloop Sarah Mary off Mosquito Inlet, Florida, with cargo of cotton.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge, June 19, 1864-- Part 3

JUNE 19, 1864

The antagonists  closed to about one and a half miles, when Semmes opened the action with a starboard broadside.  Within minutes the firing became fierce from both ships as they fought starboard to starboard on a circular course.

Lieutenant Sinclair, CSN, wrote:  "Semmes would have chosen to bring about yard-arm quarters, fouling, and boarding, relying upon the superior physique of his crew to overbalance the superiority of numbers; but this was frustrated."  Meaning Semmes wanted really close in action and hand-to-hand.

Shot and shell from the heavier guns of thee Kearsarge crashed into the Alabama's gull, while the Union sloop of war, her sides protected by the chain armor, suffered only minor damage.  One shell from the Alabama lodged in the Kearsarge's sternpost but failed to explode.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge, June 19, 1864-- Part 2

Continued from June 19.

The Alabama mounted 8 guns to the Kearsarge's 7.  Yet, Captain Winslow of the Kearsarge enjoyed a superiority in broadside including two heavy XI-inch guns while Semmes had but one heavy gun, an VIII-inch.  Perhaps his greatest advantage was superior ammunition, since the Alabama's had deteriorated during her long cruise.

Furthermore, Winslow had protected the sides of his ship and the vulnerable machinery by hanging heavy chains over  the sides from topside to below the waterline.  Kearsarge's complement was 163.  Alabama's was 149.

From Wikipedia:

CSS Alabama:

220 feet long, 31.8 foot beam
Complement 145 officers and men

Armament:

six 32-pdr cannons
one 110-pdr. cannon
one 68-pdr. cannon

USS Kearsarge

201.3 feet, 33.8 foot beam

Armament:

two 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore
four 32-pdr. guns
one 30-pdr. Parrott rifle

--Old B-Runner

N.C. Events, June 1864: Skirmishes and Expeditions

JUNE 16--  Joint expedition in the Pungo River.

JUNE 20-23--  Expedition to Batchelder's Creek near Kinston.

JUNE 20-25--  Expedition to Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, including naval operations.

JUNE 22--  Skirmish at Southwest Creek.

JUNE 22-23--  Scout from Piney Green to Snead's Ferry and Swansborough.

JUNE 22-23--  Skirmish at Swansborough.

JUNE 23-24--  Reconnaissance by Lt. Cushing  in Cape Fear River.

--Old B-Runner

MCCWRT Discussion Group Meets Sat., June 22: The Union Navy at Vicksburg

Saturday, June 22, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group will meet at Panera Bread at 6000 Northwest Highway (US Highway 14) in Crystal Lake, Illinois, for our monthly gabfest.

This month's topic is "Union Navy's Contribution to the Vicksburg Campaign."

Time runs from 10 a.m. to noon.

All are welcome, even non-members, so drop on by.

--Old B-Runner

June 19, 1864: The CSS Alabama Fights the USS Kearsarge-- Part 1

This battle, oddly enough, took place off the French port of Cherbourg, where 80 years later in June, D-Day and the Battle of Normandy took place.

JUNE 19TH, 1964:  "The day being Sunday and the weather fine, a large concourse of people -- many having come all the way from Paris -- collected on the heights above the town [Cherbourg], in the upper stories of such of the houses as commanded a view of the sea, and on the walls and fortifications of the harbor.

"Several French luggers employed as pilot-boats went out, and also an English steam-yacht, called the Deerhound.  Everything being in readiness between nine and ten o'clock, we got underway, and proceeded to sea, though the western entrance to the harbor; the Couronne [French ironclad] following us.

"As we emerged from behind the mole, we discovered the Kearsarge at a distance of between six and seven miles from the land.  She had been apprised of our intention of coming out that morning and was awaiting us.'

Captain Raphael Semmes' account of the battle.

--Old B-R'er

June 11, 1864: CSS Alabama Arrives at Cherbourg-- Part 2

The Confederate Commissioner in France, John Slidell, assured Semmes that he anticipated no difficulty in obtaining French permission for the Alabama to use the docking facilities.

William L. Drayton, U.S. Minister to France, immediately protested the use of a French port by a vessel with  a character "so obnoxious and so notorious."

Intelligence of the material condition and strength of the Alabama was relayed by the American Vice-Consul at Cherbourg to Captain Winslow of the USS Kearsarge at Flushing.

The CSS Alabama was in bad shape after all that cruising and badly in need of a major overhaul.

--Old B-Runner

Come to the Civil War Fort Fisher and Learn About the American Revolution

Saturday, June 15,  Fort Fisher interpreter  Rick Morrison, will discuss  the British Southern Strategy During the American Revolution and Occupation of Wilmington at the Fort Fisher State Historic Site at Kure Beach, N.C..  Between 1780 and 11781 the Carolinas would become  the focus of Lord Cornwallis' Southern Campaign..

It is free, but donations accepted.  and will begin at 2 p.m. in the Spencer Theater at the visitors center.

Again, Wish I Could Be There.  --Old B-R'er

History Comes Alive This Weekend at the Fort: Fort Fisher

From WECT, Wilmington, N.C..

The Fort Fisher State Historic Site will host "Confederate Navy and Marine Corps" living history program this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, June 15 and 16.

Saturday it will be from 10 a.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m..

Uniformed interpreters will be on site and will answer questions, demonstrate small arms and conduct special tours.  Periodically, the site's 12-pdr. Napoleon cannon will be fired.

Saturday there will be a toy soldier workshop for the kids.

The Friends of Fort Fisher, town of Carolina Beach and town of Kure Beach are sponsoring it.

Sure wish I could be there.

--Old B-Runner

June 11, 1864: CSS Alabama Arrives in Cherbourg, France Prior To Her Battle With USS Kearsarge-- Part 1

JUNE 11TH, 1864:  CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, badly in need of repairs, arrived at Cherbourg, France.  Lieutenant Arthur Sinclair, CSN, an officer on board the Confederate raider, later recorded his impressions upon entering this, her last port:

"We have cruised from the day of commission, August 24, 1862, to June 11, 1864, and during this time have visited two-thirds of the globe, experiencing all vicissitudes of climate and hardships attending constant cruising.

"We have had from the first to last two hundred and thirteen officers and men on the payroll, and have lost not one by disease, and but one by accidental death."

Of interest, besides the CSS Alabama-USS Kearsarge battle, Cherbourg was also a port visited by the RMS Titanic and was important in D-Day and the Normandy Campaign which I have been writing about in all my blogs to commemorate the 75th anniversary of it.

--Old B-Runner

Dominick Catanetti (1820-1905) CSN?

From Find-A-Grave.

Born:  18 August 1820 in Austria

Died:  6 March 1905 in Apalachicola, Florida (age 85)

Buried:  Chestnut Cemetery, Apalachicola, Florida

Victoria Castanetti, born in Palermo, Sicily also buried there.  (aged 72)

It is believed that he served on the CSS Spray during the war.

--Old B-Runner

Victoria and Dominic Catanetti, Appalachicola, Florida

From the May 9, 2019, Apalachicola Times "Ghosts rise at Chestnut Cemetery" David Adlerstein.

This was one of those occasions when people visit a cemetery and learn about some of the folks buried there.

Victoria Catanetti (played by Megan Lamb) was born Victoria Silvain Palermo in Sicily, Italy, in January 1833 and immigrated to the United States about 1852.  She married Dominic(k) Catanetti in 1865.

He was a sailor and ship's captain and in the 1860 census was listed as "Master of Vessel."  During the Civil War he was in the Confederate Navy, possibly on the CSS Spray.  (I have written quite a lot about this small ship.  Click on the CSS Spray label below.)   In 1900, he was bar pilot for Apalachicola Bay.

Victoria died on February 22, 1904, in Apalachicola.

--Old B-Runner

USS Cowslip-- Part 3: Rescue Work

Now, here's a ship you rarely read about in Civil War history.  But here it is in this little old blog.

After Mobile Bay, the Cowslip was active in at-sea rescue work  She saved the crew of the USS Narcissus 8 December 1864 after that ship had been blown up by a Confederate torpedo at Egmont Key, Florida (by Tampa Bay).  The Cowslip also salvaged the Narcissus' guns and ammunition.

Next, the Cowslip rescued six wounded survivors from the USS Sciota after it hit a torpedo  14 April 1865 in Mobile Bay.

The Cowslip also rendered timely assistance by towing three ships out of danger when Marshall's warehouse in Mobile, Alabama, was wrecked by an explosion 25 May 1865.

The ship was sold on 28 August 1866 at Pensacola, Florida.

--Old B-Runner

75th Anniversary of D-Day: Those Temporary Harbors Were Called Mulberry Harbours

From Wikipedia.

I posed the question of what happened to the two temporary harbors set up after D-Day and was directed here.

It says they were temporary harbors developed in England during World War II to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo following D-Day.

After the Allies seized control of the beaches two prefabricated harbors were brought over  in sections across the English Channel and assembled off Omaha Beach, referred to as "Mulberry A" and Gold Beach, "Mulberry B."

Plans were to use them until French ports could be seized.  However, that did not happen right away.

I will eventually get around to writing more about these temporary harbors in my World War II blog.

--Old Secesh

75th Anniversary of D-Day: All Five Beaches Secured By Allies By June 11

14.  ALL FIVE BEACHES SECURED BY ALLIES BY JUNE 11.

Five days after the D-Day invasion, troops immediately began installing two massive temporary harbors that had taken six months to construct back  in England.

All told, the Allies unloaded approximately 2,500,000 men , 500,000 vehicles and 4,000,000 tons of supplies to those temporary harbors over the remaining course of the war.

You can read all fifteen facts about D-Day in this blog and my June 6-8 Civil War and RoadDog's RoadLog blogs.

D-Day 75th Anniversary: Tons of Supplies and Beach Names

7.  THE U.S. SHIPPED TONS OF SUPPLIES TO THE STAGING AREAS IN ENGLAND.

Since Operation Overlord was launched from England, the U.S. military had to ship  7 million tons of supplies to staging areas, including 450 tons of ammunition.

8.  D-DAY WAS CARRIED OUT ALONG FIVE SECTIONS OF BEACHFRONT.

Operation Overlord was divided among sections of beach front along the Normandy coast codenamed , from west to east: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

D-Day's 75th Anniversary: A Fort Fisher Precedent to Operation Overlord

Today marks the 75th anniversary of this major world event.

I will be writing about it in the next three posts in every one of my blogs.

The two battles of Fort Fisher were a precedent for D-Day as it involved the largest assemblage of warships ever in U.S. Navy history as well as soldiers (and sailors) landing on an enemy shore, though at Fort Fisher they did not land under enemy fire..

From the History site. "D-Day:  Facts on the epic 1944 invasion that changed the course of WW II" by Dave Roos.

3.  D-DAY WAS THE LARGEST AMPHIBIOUS  INVASION IN MILITARY HISTORY.

The invasion was called Operation Overlord and consisted of 156,115 U.S., English and Canadian troops, 6,939 ships and landing vessels and 2,395 aircraft and gliders that delivered airborne troops.

D-Day 75th Anniversary: The Atlantic Wall

6.  GERMANY HAD FORTIFIED FRANCE'S COAST.

Anticipating an Allied invasion somewhere along the French coast, Adolf Hitler  charged Field Marshal Erwin Rommel with fortifying German defenses in France.

In 1943, Rommel completed construction of the "Atlantic Wall,"  Germany's 2,400 mile  line of bunkers, landmines, and beach and water obstacles.  It is estimated that they planted some 4 million landmines along Normandy's beaches.

USS Cowslip-- Part 2: Assigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and At Mobile

The Cowslip was assigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and departed N.Y. City 2 February 1864, and arrived at New Orleans Feb. 26.  She was put to work delivering men to their posts, delivering mail, stores, guns and ammunition to the squadron.  Also, she was used to tow steamers, perform rescue and salvage work as well as picket and patrol duty.

The Cowslip captured a sailboat with five men on board off Pascagoula, Mississippi, 15 April 1864; the sloop Last Push 29 May (this was what I wrote about), and a raid up Biloxi Bay, Mississippi, in which she captured five sloops and a small steamer.  That raid, she also destroyed  six large boats, three flat boats and four salt works.

During July and August 1864, the Cowslip was off Mobile Bay helping Admiral Farragut prepare for his attack on it.

--Old B-R'er

USS Cowslip-- Part 1: Built in New York, Acquired By the Navy

On May 29, I wrote about the USS Cowslip capturing a blockade runner.

Here is more information on this ship.

From Wikipedia.

The USS Cowslip was a steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1863 for blockade duty.  It was also used as an ammunition ship, a dispatch boat,  and a rescue and salvage vessel.

It was a sidewheel steamer built in New York as the Meteor and purchased 21 December 1863 and fitted out as a gunboat at the New York Navy Yard, commissioned 27 January 1864, Acting Ensign R. Canfield in command.  It was 123 feet long, had a 24-foot beam and crew of 36. It mounted  one 20-pdr rifled gun and two 24-pdr. smoothbores.

--Old B-Runner

June 4, 1864: Gloucester Asks for Fishing Fleet Protection

All of these dates in Civil War naval history are from the "Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865" book.

JUNE 4TH, 1864:  The success of the CSS Tacony against shipping off the New England coast the previous year (20-27 June 1863) prompted a committee from Gloucester, Massachusetts, to address a request to Secretary Welles:  "In behalf of the citizens and businessmen of this town interested in the fishing business, to ask your attention to the necessity of some protection for our fishing fleet the coming season...

"It is necessary that a steamer, properly armed, should be detailed for the special service of cruising in the Gulf of St. Lawrence until the close of the fishing season,"

Welles ordered the USS Ticonderoga, Captain Charles Steedman, on this duty.

--Old B-Runner

The Perry and Rodgers Families in the U.S. Navy

In my Not So Forgotten" War of 1812, I have been writing about the Rodgers and Perry families who have a whole lot to do with the U.S. Navy and the military in general.  You can take a look at last month's and this month's blogs to find out more.

Christopher R. Perry commanded the USS General Greene during the Quasi War with France and was the father of a naval family with best known sons Oliver Hazard Perry (Battle of Lake Erie) and Matthew Calbraith Perry (opening of Japan).  All of five of his sons served in the U.S. Navy.

One of his daughters, Anna Marie Perry,  married Commodore George Washington Rodgers.  This was the combination of two noted naval families.

Two of their sons were naval officers during the Civil War, one of whom died, and one was an Army officer killed during the Mexican War

CHRISTOPHER RAYMOND PERRY RODGERS  (1819-1893)  Who rose to the rank f rear admiral.

GEORGE WASHINGTON RODGERS  (1822-1863)  Served in Mexican War.  Killed while in command of monitor USS Catskill at Second Battle of Charleston Harbor.

ALEXANDER PERRY RODGERS  (1825-1847)   USMA  Killed in Mexican War.

I will be writing about the first two sons later in this blog.

I Don't Know, An Army Black Sheep of the Family?  --Old B-Runner

The Interesting Career of the CSS/USS Atlanta

I was writing about this ship last month.

It started its career as a blockade runner named the Fingal and made one run through the blockade at Savannah, Georgia, in November 1861.  It then found that it couldn't run out of the port.

At that time, it was converted into an ironclad and named the CSS Atlanta, mounting four cannons, a torpedo spar and a ram.  The new ironclad had just one battle with Union ships which turned out badly and the ship's capture.

It was then taken into the Union Navy and served the rest of the war in that capacity.

After the war, it was sold to Haiti, but lost at sea on her way there.  Imagine a former Confederate ironclad fighting for a black nation.

So, it was a blockade runner, Confederate ironclad, Union ironclad and Haitian warship.

Like I Said, An Interesting Story.  --Old B-R'er

N.C. Events June 1864-- Part 1: Blockade Runners and Kirk's Raid

All actions are in the eastern part of the state unless (WEST).

JUNE--  3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry (Union) organized in Knoxville, Tennessee.  (WEST)

JUNE 2--   Destruction of steamer Georgiana McCall.

JUNE 4--  Capture of steamer Thistle.

JUNE 5--  Capture of steamer Thistle off Cape Lookout.

JUNE 9--  Destruction of blockade-runner Pevensey near Beaufort.

JUNE 13 to July 15--  KIRK's RAID:  Federal raid from Morristown, Tennessee, into North Carolina, the capture and destruction of Camp Vance near Morganton, and skirmishes.  (WEST)

--Old B-Runner